“Only a few times. But it actually pays better than the modeling jobs I’ve gotten. And if Drumm gets elected president? How many women can say they’ve slept with the son of the frickin’ president of the United States?”
“I signed an NDA that said I can’t say anything about this. No who, what, where, when and why.”
“Yeah, yeah. I signed that, too. Dan says it’s to protect us as much as them.”
“In what way?”
“I don’t know. I don’t really care as long as I get paid.”
“And there’s never a problem with getting paid?”
“You have to give Dan his cut, but other than that, it’s easy money.”
I want to ask her about her other experiences but don’t want to exasperate her. I do have one pressing question, though.
“Are we supposed to provide the condoms or them?”
She does a double take. “You’re not on birth control?”
“I tried birth control pills when I had really bad cramps as a teenager, but the pills gave me headaches.”
“Sucks to be you. Guess you better hope Tony carries some.”
She leaves me to stew in my quandary. Her bedroom is next to mine. I hear the sound of her cellphone camera and remember her showing Tracy modeling photos she took of herself for her Instagram account.
What am I going to do? What would Lila advise?
Not to get myself in such a mess in the first place.
Money isn’t everything.
If you’re going to jump, jump with two feet, otherwise you land crooked.
I realize I have one foot in, one foot out. Part of me wants to go through with it. Part of me wants to run the hell away. Maybe I need to keep my eyes on the prize. Twenty thousand dollars. Andre’s basketball. Less stress for Lila. My future. Money may not be everything, but it is a means to some pretty important things.
And if I’m going to lose my virginity, why not get paid a buttload of money for it? I could hear the envy when Sierra spoke. Maybe I should consider myself lucky and be grateful for this opportunity. I could do far worse for my first sexual partner. Tony’s good-looking. He’s nice. Sort of.
Somehow I manage to drift asleep. When I wake, I realize I’m hugging one of the throw pillows, and I’m hungry. I never did get lunch. I look into Sierra’s room and find that she’s also napping. I go in search of the kitchen, hoping I don’t come across anyone. If anyone works in this house and wonders who I am, I’m not sure what to tell them. Luckily, the house seems empty.
I couldn’t even dream of living in a place like this. The living room ceiling is at least thirty feet high, the modern furniture is immaculate, and the hardwood floors gleam as if they were just installed yesterday. The kitchen is just as impressive. And huge.
Finding a fruit bowl, I help myself to an apple. Surely whoever can afford this place won’t mind a missing apple.
I finish exploring the rest of the house except for the upstairs. By the time I make it back to my room, I hear sounds of people entering the house. A few minutes later, Joe appears at my door and tells me to dress for dinner. I dig through the duffel bag that he had brought up earlier. What in the world do I wear?
If I want Tony Lee to change his mind about me, I should go with my sweats and my Michael Jordan Tarheels jersey. I had bought it for Andre for his twelfth birthday, but he grew out of it fast.
If I don’t want Tony to change his mind...
I choose a dress I’ve worn to church before because it’s actually the nicest thing I own, and put a sweater over it.
“Do all Southern girls have the same sense of fashion?” Sierra asks from the threshold. She’s wearing a halter mini and thigh-high boots. Lila would never let me be caught dead wearing something like that, but a little bit of me is envious. I wish I had the guts to wear something like what Sierra has on. Not to care who might think it looked slutty.
“Not everyone’s as lucky as you,” I reply with sincerity, slipping on a pair of strappy sandals I bought when my roommates and I went outlet shopping, and then reapplying some makeup. “I don’t have a body that could pull off a dress like yours.”
Mollified, Sierra makes no further comment. We head downstairs and find the men in the dining room having drinks at the bar. Sierra sidles up to Eric as if they’ve been dating for a long time.
She indicates the tequila he’s having. “I’ll take one of those. With a twist of lime.”